the Companion Booklet

SUSAN
VOEL Z
Songs of Prince Re-Imagined
It was a steamy night in South Austin, Texas.
The tape rolling through the Tascam 688 cassette recorder began
to melt, giving the strings on Money Don’t Matter 2 Night a nice
wobbly tone. It was the first song of what unexpectedly became a
20-year Prince project. We spent days recording deep in the cool
dark of the legendary Austin Rehearsal Complex. In Chicago, we
set up in an attic apartment, chilling champagne out the window
during a blizzard and later, we took over the basement to record
vocals and trumpet in the shower. We listened deeply to Prince’s
recordings, falling in love with the essence of each song. Then we’d
pull instruments down off the wall and let new sounds inspire us:
Charlie Sexton’s Turkish cumbush on Anna Stesia; his duet vocal
on I Wish U Heaven; a song playing in reverse bled thru the tape at
the perfect moment to create the end of When U Were Mine;
Alison Chesley in her glasses and slippers rolled her green cello
case across the alley to rock 17 Days and The Beautiful Ones.
Prince and I did meet. Poi Dog Pondering was recording at Paisley Park.
Walking through the lounge one evening, I heard a rustling above and
behind me. I turned and he was slowly coming down the stairs.
We looked at each other and we each said ‘hello.’ A simple little blessing.
To the artists who played on this record: I adore you.
To Prince: Here are songs from your beautiful life played back to you—
Love from the very first note.
1.Anna Stesia
2.The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
3.17 Days
4.I Would Die 4 U
5.The Beautiful Ones / Rant in the Rain
6.Miles Away (orig.)
7.Take Me With U
8.I Wish U Heaven
9.When U Were Mine
10.Reverse Life (orig.)
11.Money Don’t Matter 2 Night
© π 2016 OCTAVE 8 RECORDS
BURNSIDE DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
MECHANICAL LICENSING
SECURED THROUGH LOUDR
1. ANNA STESIA
Vocals, violins, upright piano, pump organ,
cumbush: SMV
Vocals, cumbush, loop, bass: Jared Tuten
Recorded in Charlie Sexton’s Studio at the ARC
Mix: Jared Tuten at Studio X
2. T
HE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL
IN THE WORLD
Vocals, violins, piano: SMV
Vocals: Abra Moore, Kornell Hargrove
Acoustic guitar: Josh Houda
Electric guitar: Josh Houda and Jackson Wilson
Bass, drum loop: Chris Houda
Originally recorded by Jared Tuten
Re-mix re-invent: Houda Brothers
Final mix: Rick Barnes at Rax Trax Recording
3. 17 DAYS
Vocals, violins, cello pizz: SMV
Vocals: Abra Moore, Robert Cornelius,
Dag Juhlin, Johnny Ride
Cello: Alison Chesley
Electric guitar, acoustic guitar: Josh Houda
Guitar tornado: Johnny Ride
Bass, drum loop: Chris Houda
Originally recorded by Jared Tuten
Re-mix re-invent: Houda Brothers
Final mix: Rick Barnes at Rax Trax Recording
4. I WOULD DIE 4 U
Vocals, violins: SMV
Backing vocals: Kornell Hargrove,
Robert Cornelius, Arlene Newson
Electric guitar: Ted Cho
Harmonic guitar: Frank Orrall
Acoustic guitar and electric guitar: Josh Houda
Bass: Ron Hall
Drum loop: Chris Houda
Originally recorded by Jared Tuten
Re-mix re-invent: Houda Brothers
Final Mix: Rick Barnes at Rax Trax Recording
5. THE BEAUTIFUL ONES/
RANT IN THE RAIN (INSPIRED BY PRN)
Vocals, violins, keyboard: SMV
Guitars, keyboard, bass, intro loop: Jared Tuten
Cello: Alison Chesley
Sampled drums: Frank Orrall
Live drums: Ned Folkerth
Song mix: John McEntire at Soma Electronic
Music Studios
Recorded and Rant in the Rain outro mix:
Jared Tuten in Wicker Park and at Studio X
7. TAKE ME WITH U
Vocals, violins, Casio SK-5 keyboard: SMV
Vocal “Thank you”: Sir Thomas Dunning
of Dublin
Loop, bass, sounds: Rick Gehrenbeck
Drums: Chris Searles
Recorded and Intro mix: Doug McBride
at Gravity Studios
Song mix: Rick Gehrenbeck
8. I WISH U HEAVEN
Vocal, violins, B3 organ, bass: SMV
6. MILES AWAY**
Vocal and cello: Charlie Sexton
(ORIGINAL COMPOSITION BY SMV AND JOHNNY RIDE) Cello: Alison Chesley
Guitar and guitar melody: Johnny Ride
E-bow guitar: Johnny Ride
Trumpet: Dave Max Crawford
Percussion: Leddie Garcia
Bass: SMV
Drums: Ned Folkerth
Drums: Jared Tuten
Recorded and mixed: Jared Tuten at Studio X
Recorded and mixed: Jared Tuten in Wicker
Park and at Studio X
9. WHEN U WERE MINE
Vocal, Casio SK-5 sampling keyboard,
electric guitar, violin: SMV
Cello: Alison Chesley
Casio SK-5 sampling keyboard loop: Mel Hammond
Drums and tambourines: Mark Stevens
Mix: Martin Stebbing
10. REVERSE LIFE* (ORIG.)
Guitars, bass, loop: SMV
11. MONEY DON’T MATTER 2 NIGHT
Vocals, warbley violins: SMV
Trumpet: Dave Max Crawford
Bendy guitars and Bass: Johnny Ride
Drums: Chris Searles
Trumpet recorded and edited: Martin Stebbing
Mix: Jared Tuten at Studio X
*Susan Voelz Music Publishing
**Susan Voelz Music and Shiny Thing Music
Transportation: Jared’s little red car
Photography (Susan/beach): Anna Fishkin
Cover design: Sam Silvio Design
Red Stripe beer. For the Rant in
the Rain outro, we asked the drummer
to play as if he and the drum kit were
tumbling down the stairs.
The aftermath of The Beautiful Ones
is Miles Away. Max recorded trumpet
in the shower.
Alison Chesley pulled her cello across
the alley, her glasses on, her slippers
on, to record 17 Days in front of the
fireplace. Abra sang at Rob Halverson’s
old East Austin house studio on a hill.
Of course the place was said to be
haunted. She channeled the ghosts.
So did Robert. Well, so did everyone.
A theatre in San Francisco loaned me
mics to record my vocals and strings for
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.
Kornel drove down to Wicker Park
to add his smoky fireman vocals.
Abra sang up into the high wood
ceiling of Rob’s studio.
The Songs and the Stories
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night.
The strings and guitars got all bendy
sounding from the heat melting the
tape. Max recorded a few passes of
trumpet that inspired us to create an
instrumental song keeping vocals
only in the chorus.
Take Me With U begins with a
tritone (devil tone) melody that I love
to play on violin with Chris Searles
drumming. Years later, Thomas
Dunning came over to record two
wonderful words: “Thank you.” Still,
the song wasn’t going to make the
cut until the french girl, ‘hip drop’ mix
was created by Rick Gehrenbeck.
Charlie Sexton’s upright piano
begins Anna Stesia. His studio was
at the back of the Austin Rehearsal
Complex where Jared and I were
then recording. While plunking out
the piano chords, I saw a banjo
looking instrument—a turkish
cumbush—hanging on the wall.
We took it down and loved the tone.
There are a lot of vocal harmonies
on the original I Wish U Heaven.
I interrupted Charlie’s cello practice
to record him singing and it became
a duet. Then he picked his cello
up off the oriental rug and we
recorded cello, too.
Before leaving Austin, I bought an
SK-5 Casio Sampling Keyboard at
a garage sale. The best of its eight
sounds are ‘piano’ and ‘pipe organ’
on When U Were Mine. At the end
of the last chorus, we hear a song
from the other side of the tape bleeding
through in reverse, arriving at the
perfect moment and pitch (Reverse Life).
In Chicago, we took over my roommate’s
basement bedroom to record The
Beautiful Ones. We paid him with a case of
We chose to play I Would Die 4 U at a
Hoot Night in Chicago—the theme was
death. It went well so we decided to
record it. But the song was on hold until
the Houda twins arrived in Chicago.
I gave them tracks to remix. A few
weeks later, they handed me a CD after
a sound check and we walked out to
the alley to listen on my car stereo.
Sublime.